Break out
by kidishcaresh
Summary: 10 years have passed since the war. Quatre learns that an imprisoned Heero is about to be sentenced to death. He sends in Duo to get Heero out, but Duo finds his task might be harder than any of them suspected as Heero isn't the Heero they used to know. With Heero in the state he is in it is up to Duo and later Sally and Wufei also to get Heero to safety.
1. Break out 1

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 1,**

"Come to bed love. It's done. You've played your hand; now it's time to let the cards fall where they will." Trowa whispered as he hugged his lover from behind.

"I know, but…I know I'm just being silly. I've had to walk on eggshells for years to arrange this all. I can't help but feel guilty. If I hadn't been so busy with this then poor Heero might not be where he is now." Quatre said quietly as he went over his last mail one more time.

"I know, but you couldn't have known that they would stuff him there without having reason to. We didn't choose for the world to turn against us. We have to be patient now and have faith in _his_ abilities." Trowa said reaching past Quatre and pressing the send button.

"You're right. Wufei for now is safe where he is thanks to Lady Une's efforts. We'll have to be patient now and wait for all the pieces to come together. I can't help but feel bad though…if you'd seen him when I last visited…withdrawn, quiet, frightened… frightened Trowa! Heero, our Heero! He was trembling like a leaf when they brought me in like he expected to be punished!" Quatre said hugging Trowa tightly as he spoke his eyes haunted and pained. Trowa rubbed his back.

"Have faith in _him._ We know how good _he _is. We won't let them kill Heero. We won't." Trowa whispered.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE

He stared at the screen of his laptop grimly as he went through the information and pictures in it.

"What've they done to him?" he whispered as he went through the set of pictures showing Heero. He gasped at the last one. He quickly read through the information and grinned maniacally.

"Trust 04 to be well informed." he whispered as he got up and started to pack.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE

Darkness, all consuming darkness, all around him, not a sound to be heard; he hated the darkness. Seven years long he'd been held here in this all consuming darkness. At first he'd welcomed it having been kept drugged and having the guards take out their anger on him for whatever petty reason they had. As the years went by though he began to hate it with a passion and lately…lately he began to fear it.

Life in prison hadn't seemed like that bad a punishment to him. He'd serve his time try to do the best he could to be an obedient prisoner and live a relatively quiet albeit captive life. His lawyer had told him that prison wasn't like what it used to mean during the war. In this time of peace it meant you lived in a small cell and got out for exercise and visits and for activities the prison held to keep their inmates entertained, busy and doing something worthwhile. He'd be captive yes, but it was better than being put to death for his crimes.

The first three years were relatively okay and he got along well with most of the prison personnel and inmates and even the warden. His psychiatrist was a great help in making him see that he wasn't to blame and even spoke of it that if he behaved well and kept up his therapy sessions he might get a reduction on the sentence for good behavior; there was even a chance at a removal of sentence if the man could prove the boy wasn't a danger to society and that his actions were indeed the result of conditioning by adult parties and a deeply ingrained fear of the punishment for disobedience.

After three years though the warden died of a stroke and the man who took his place held a deep grudge. The moment he found out who Heero was had been the moment he made his life hell. It started with his Psychiatrist telling him he'd be removed from the facility and was facing his own charges for supposedly providing inmates with illegal substances and bribes. The man had been very upset, but was thankful that the Winner company had offered him a position and all the help to beat his charges. Heero had been happy that Quatre was still looking after him and making sure this man wouldn't suffer for being kind to him.

That was only the first change though. The personnel and inmates who Heero had not gotten along with, but tolerated simply because they'd not been worth the hassle a fight might cause began to intensify their assaults and this had been the beginning of his prolonged stays in solitary confinement. He was often beaten and then brought to the infirmary where they administered some sort of drug that he recalled from his days in conditioning and which kept his mind in a constant haze. When this and their actions following the drugging failed to get a reaction the warden had him thrown into a cell without windows or light with nothing in it. He had been in solitary confinement cells enough to know them inside and out and had refused to be afraid, but as the years dragged on and he spent more than 70 percent of the year inside the small room he began to have relapses to his early youth and the conditionings and he soon lost himself to the maddening effects of solitary confinement.

Now nearly ten long years since he was first placed in this prison Heero could barely remember the outside world and clung desperately to what few memories of his fellow pilots he had to keep himself from giving in to the insanity of this all. Now though he found himself laughing at the irony of it all. He was now welcoming with open arms the death sentence that his lawyers had fought so hard to keep from happening. Suddenly the memory of his war time suicide attempt and its near death experience seemed to be a lot less frightening then the thought of a life in this hell hole. All that kept him from longing for death with every fiber of his being was Quatre's demand that he hang in there while the blond worked tirelessly on what he thought would be the salvation of them all.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE

"Look at me when I talk to you. I know Winner has been filling your head with fables; deluded dreams of a child with far more power than he ought to have. If you think for even one second that he can stop your sentence then you're sorely mistaken boy!" the warden said slamming the rod down on Heero's back at random intervals as he spoke while pacing behind Heero. The man made sure to stay in his blind zone making it so Heero couldn't anticipate from which side or what angle the blow would come or when it would come. Heero simply stared at the far wall of the room ignoring the men by the door who were laughing cruelly and the warden who continued to speak again.

"In three weeks time I will personally see to it that you die the most painful way possible; within the boundaries of the law of course. The papers with your signature have been sent. Death by poison; of course I couldn't have anticipated that my prison's doctor hates you so much that he would purposefully bring up a slow killing poison instead of the usual one. It will be such an unfortunate event and I will feel ever so sorry for your pain; or so the press will write it. Of course if you were to speak of this all it might read of a hate filled inmate rather than the doctor. Either way I'll rid myself of you and you'll burn in the pits of hell." the warden said as he beat Heero again.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE

Heero shivered. He was back in the darkness of the isolation cell. His back was a mess and his ankle felt broken; his left wrist was sprained for certain and he was fairly certain he had a concussion. He wondered a second if he should be worried about the taste of blood in his throat, but decided he'd stopped caring long ago and just wanted it to end and death by internal bleeding sounded a lot less painful than what the warden had in mind.

Heero blinked. A faint sound pierced the silent darkness like someone struck a gong in a church building. Morse Heero realized and he listened to the message. When it finished it was repeated twice before the Morse code for requesting confirmation of receiving the message was tapped. Heero's eyes widened in the darkness as he tapped a weak confirmation. He couldn't believe it, but he'd listened closely the third time to be absolutely sure. His mind reeled from the message. It couldn't be; it shouldn't. He shouldn't be there. It wasn't right and at that if the warden…

At the thought of the warden he felt a tiny sliver of hope. The warden was away for a week and had given express command that no one was allowed near him safe the man who shoved food through the small slit in the door and a cup of water to go with it. With this thought in his mind he grasped what little energy he had and backed away as best he could in the small space.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Break out 2

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 2,**

Duo grinned maniacally as the prison came into view. It had been far and far too easy to get himself thrown in the same prison that Heero. That bastard warden had been all too happy to have another gundam pilot to torture and wasted no time throwing him in solitary confinement. He made a mental note to tell Quatre to have his security personnel in each area be it a prison an airport or some other place requiring security and detaining people who did wrong to learn better ways of searching a person than these idiots had. He'd easily been able to sneak in a few odds and ends that to no one seemed of any value and which lay hidden within the thick mass of hair that the guards simply had him unbraid. Then again though it might be that the sheer amount of dangerous weapons found on him had made the guards believe they had everything and there couldn't possibly be more. Duo supposed that either which it was it didn't matter. He was here now and Heero was in the cell next to him waiting for Duo to save him.

It didn't take Duo long to turn the odds and ends into a small tool with which he could cause a spark. He then reached into his mouth and pulled out a small wad of a weak explosive that the guards had been too stupid to realize it wasn't a molar and he began to push the tiny amount into the wall. The amount was far too small for a real explosion, but it was enough to create a fist sized hole in the wall. From there it only took Duo about an hour to make it wide enough to slip his body through. He squinted and found Heero cuddled against the other wall. He looked if possible worse than the picture Quatre had sent.

'It doesn't matter. We'll fix him right back up. He just has to get out of this place. Yeah, once he's free again he'll improve I'm sure!' Duo thought as he changed a bit to his spark tool and made it into a makeshift screwdriver.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE

'How did he sneak the necessities for an explosive in here?' Heero wondered as the wall across from him send out a spray of dust over him. He coughed to clear it from his lungs and blinked as a slender hand began to pull at the loose bricks. Heero watched the hand work quietly. Then a face appeared before the hole and he tried to smile weakly. He knew that face; it had been in his dreams and its haunted expression had fueled his nightmares these long ten years.

"Hey buddy, how are ya holding up?" Duo said grinning as he worked his slender body through the small hole that would seem far too small for even a teenager to crawl through. Once he was on his feet he looked at Heero who looked back as though he was unsure of the reality of Duo's presence.

"Heero…" Duo murmured as he walked over and worked his tool of odds and ends into a new model that would allow him to unscrew the air duct for their escape. He looked to his left when Heero didn't respond and growled angrily.

"01 status!" he snapped. This received a reaction and while Duo hated the reaction he was for now glad it was a reaction.

"Functionable…but concussed." Heero answered dutifully remaining silent a moment before adding the last bit. He cringed when Duo cursed softly and dropped the air duct screen.

"Can you walk?" Duo asked; feeling some relief when Heero worked himself onto his feet and nodded.

"Good. We're leaving this place now." Duo said jumping up and pulling his body into the air duct. He frowned when he did not hear Heero follow and turned back so he could push his face out of the duct.

"Heero." Duo hissed looking at the boy who was just standing there. Heero looked up at him with a mix of desperation and fear. Duo could even after all these years still detect the hidden underlying emotions; pain, a sliver of hope and…something resembling stubbornness.

"I will get you out of this prison Heero, but you have to want it. You have to want to come with me and leave this place." Duo said looking the boy in the eye before quickly ducking back in as they heard noise in the hall and panic took over Heero's face as he scrambled to block the small hole with his body.

Just seconds later the small slit under the door opened and food and water or what was to pass for it were shoved into Heero's cell. Heero attacked both like he'd not been fed in weeks. It didn't take him long to finish it and Duo realized that Heero in this dreadful place had fallen into a completely instinctive state. The real Heero was still in there somewhere, but whatever had been done to him had brought on an isolation. Duo growled again cursing Tierra Arday for having gotten his hands on Heero. He'd heard from Relena how Heero had been lifted off his hospital bed and brought to court. Quatre and Relena had provided a team of lawyers for the boy that had as if by a miracle gotten his sentence lowered from death to life in prison with chances of an early release or a continuation of his sentence under house arrest somewhere at one of Quatre's places. Heero had told Duo he'd receive therapy and a reforming education. Heero had seemed content with this. He was tired of killing; they all were. Duo had almost believe Heero when he said it would be okay. Heero trusted the system. Heero; their Heero had wanted to change and saw his imprisonment as the start. Duo hadn't liked it, but he trusted Quatre and the first three years it had seemed like Heero was right. His psychiatrist was convinced that he had enough evidence to change Heero's sentence for the better, but then that warden came…and then Heero began to deteriorate. Only Quatre was still allowed to visit simply because without the funds from the Winner foundation the prison would be shut down. Quatre had seen it too; outward Heero acted like he was fine, but he couldn't hide the bruises, the slight limps, a cut at his hairline and the fact that he wouldn't sit properly in his chair and keep his back away from the chair's back was a dead giveaway that someone had been whipping him. Heero though kept maintaining he was just fine and doing well and Quatre had to walk on eggshells just to help his friend.

When Quatre called him in complete and utter terror that Heero was to be put to death in 3 weeks Duo had wasted no time taking the nearest shuttle back down to earth. He'd accepted immediately the hair-brained plan the blond had come up with to free Heero. If not for all that Quatre had mailed him Duo would've questioned the blond's sanity, but Quatre was right though. The less Duo had to work with the more freedom he had to do what he did best in these situations; improvise.

Duo slid out of the air vent and walked over to Heero. Heero's eyes were clouded as he watched Duo walk over.

"It's gotta be you now Heero. I can't help you if you won't let me." Duo said placing a hand on the other's cheek and lifting his face so he could look the boy in the eyes.

Heero reached up and placed his hand hesitantly over Duo's. Then as if realizing that it wasn't a dream Heero's eyes filled with so many painful emotions that Duo wanted nothing more than to pull the other close and never let go. Heero gasped and let out a pained sob.

"Help me! I…I don't… not like that… not here…I…I don't want to die Duo!" Heero whimpered quietly as his brains finally realized he finally had a choice in what was going to happen to him. Duo gave in and pulled the broken boy close.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	3. Break out 3

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 3,**

Quatre grinned darkly at the e-mail currently on his screen.

"What's going through your mind? It must be good if you have that look on your face." Trowa asked leaning over to read.

"Right now? A lot of dark things you're best off not knowing. Duo is doing his thing and I've gotten those statutes and laws sorted out. There are no laws in existence that forbid me to start my own country so long as I own the deeds and rights to all the land I intend to build this country upon and right now I own the entirety of the middle eastern nation. The former countries of Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the united Arab Emirates, Jordan, Amman, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq and most of Turkey safe that tiny bit in the eastern European nation all are my property. Seeing as father already owned L4 and all of the first five former countries by birth right and passing of deeds, rights and royalty related heritages it wasn't hard to begin, but especially Turkey gave me some trouble as the rights and deeds to that were split among those with ancestors who ruled that country. I managed just today to get them to sign a treaty which states that the half situated within Asia would be mine if I agreed to giving them the rights to L4, leave the half belonging to Europe be and so long as I will not forbid passage into my territory. Which of course would be counterproductive." Quatre said leaning up to kiss his lover.

"Nice…so now that you're king of your country, what's next?" Trowa murmured wrapping his arms around the blond.

"Well seeing as all our visits last week were to make nice with the people; I believe that we now make a statement to declare independence from the Earth Sphere, then of course the big unveiling and the name ceremony and give them the book of law of my new country that you my love worked ever so hard on. After that the wait is for my brothers to finally come home." Quatre said smiling warmly at Trowa.

"You know? I love the way you are being devious and plotting." Trowa murmured.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOE

Trowa had been by Quatre's side through all of this. At the circus he'd found he more often than not was the reason people stayed away and when Quatre called him with an important job Trowa had instantly agreed. He was all too glad to be away from the circus and the scrutinizing looks everyone safe Catherine and the director of the circus gave him; as if it were his fault the circus lost so much clientèle.

Trowa had been most surprised when Relena Darlian of all people vowed to support their independent nation. Trowa had found the name of their country to be suitable. Genesis; the coming into being. The beginning and for the five of them a new life. Yes if Quatre's plan succeeded they would be able to break away from the past that they all carried with them like chains for life.

At first when Trowa learned of Quatre's plans, just after the wars, to secure an area where he could one day retired without the bias of the world slapping him in the face at every turn, Trowa had been skeptical. People would surely not accept some teenager holding a piece of paper and claiming he owned the whole of the land they lived on no matter how kind he was, but he soon learned just why Quatre was able to run a multi-national company so well at such a young age. Quatre had not only was very kind, but he was also very good with words and his tactical skills aided him in talking even the most stubborn men into his ideas. He spent the three years his lawyers were fighting for Heero's freedom traveling the land he owned and talking to everyone who wanted to see him. He took all their complaints into consideration and after 3 years he realized that the current laws were far too convoluted to even function in real life. Especially in this war torn world these laws were very much futile and so Quatre had asked him to consider interning at his company's law firm and work toward creating a law system for their new country.

Trowa had to admit that as dry and boring as it seemed there was something very stimulating about creating your own laws. It was easy for him to set up laws regarding what to do with those who broke the laws and especially what constituted as breaking the law was a very fun subject to ponder on. The first few felonies were fairly easy breaking and entering, theft of any kind and murder were the obvious choices, but Lisa one of Quatre's so called legal eagles soon taught him that the subject of murder alone had many different variations and motives all of which had to be taken into account Self defense and psychotic attacks obviously had to be treated differently than premeditated murder.

Trowa had greatly enjoyed debating with Lisa and her co-workers on these matters and together with them he set up a working system of law that would become the founding principle of their country's law system. He also set up a detailed plan on how to see to the laws he created and even made several clauses in the laws that would make it so that if a civilian caused a criminal harm in his attempt to deflect an attack or a robbery then said civilian would not be prosecuted provided the damage wasn't what his new law considered excessive violence. Duo provided some excellent surveillance equipment for the police to keep their eyes on those who spent their sentences in house arrest or who were allowed special leave from detention facilities for various by the law accepted reasons. Though Trowa after a long debate with David and Alice some of Lisa's co-workers decided that these leaves should at all times happen under surveillance. He also denounced the right for convicts under special care to have unsupervised leaves where they had to report back in 12 hours and could easily escape. He simply found that if they were under special care then they were automatically considered unfit for proper judgment and in need of surveillance. Repeat offenders of the worst crimes no longer received lower sentences for good behavior. The fact that they were imprisoned for the third time was reason enough to prove they would not be safe to return to society.

To Trowa though his most important differences lay in the treatment of the criminals and the general way the law worked in court. What under the Earth Sphere Unified Nation still was considered circumstantial evidence was in Quatre's country of Genesis now considered serious evidence just as much as the hard evidence if it was substantial enough. There were now no longer endless laws and subsections to be minded in the search for evidence and a DNA test was not an option, but a must if one was suspected of a crime. Genesis's officers of law would have much more freedom to function without overstepping the laws of privacy unless the crime was classified in the highest degree range which included murder and torture among others; then all bets were off and all tests became mandatory. Finally endless waiting for a mountain of paperwork just to receive a letter that would allow their officers of law to search a house were shortened down to a single form and could be done over the phone and said paper had to be within the officer's hand within less than ten minutes and all officers to this end would receive Quatre's latest new law enforcement materials which included a nifty PDA that could receive files when scanned into a computer and sent to the PDA in question and all that went through Heero's nifty computer program that Quatre had with Heero's permission lifted off his laptop which Quatre had been given to keep safe after the first Eve war.

Yes, the law was functioning well in Quatre's country and for once it was written so even a complete moron would be able to understand it.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOE

Quatre smiled and wrapped his arms around Trowa.

"I have to plot love. The people of ESUN want us dead for crimes we committed during a time of war while doing someone else's bidding and what we thought to be the right thing to do. If no one is going to help us then I will help myself and my brothers. I've spend much of the last ten years seeing to it that all the land I own is well and truly mine and that the people who live on my land are willing to accept me and my fellow gundam brothers without hate and without prejudice. I'm tired of having to fight for everything up to and including the right to live on this planet and its colonies and I'm sick of always having everyone around me point and whisper. It took me five years of intense counseling whenever I wasn't working on this project just to accept that I'm not to blame for the war or the casualties and that while we partook and killed we are no more guilty for it than any other soldier and we certainly don't deserve this hate. I want to start living the life I want to live rather than be haunted by my actions in the past and Genesis is our beginning. I hate what they did to Heero…he didn't deserve that…we don't deserve that…not that…" Quatre murmured as Trowa guided him to the bed and helped him get ready for bed.

"Hush love, have faith in 02. He will save Heero; not only from that terrible prison, but also from his own prison." Trowa murmured

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	4. Break out 4

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 4,**

"C'mon buddy, time to get out of here." Duo murmured as he pushed Heero up and into the air shaft. He quickly followed suit and the two of them silently inched toward the outside exit of the air shaft. Once they made it out to the courtyard Heero unceremoniously dropped his body out of the air shaft and onto the sad excuse for a rose bush below it. He quickly moved when Duo came down as well.

"Well so far so good. Next we'll have to wait for dawn." Duo said as he led Heero through the mass of search light beams toward the only lonely tool shed the prison had where they would wait out their chance. Duo had timed his programs so that the security of the prison would be hacked into the moment the guards were about to find out he and Heero were no longer there which would be when the guard with their breakfast or what was to pass for that came to their cells. Then the alarms would go off and while the guards were busy chasing one alarm after another Duo would use the distraction to get into the laundry area which was separated from the main confinement building so as to prevent escapes. The laundry truck would be their final ride to freedom and after that it was merely a matter of getting to Genesis ground without getting caught.

Heero followed meekly and Duo easily noticed the limp he tried to hide. When they managed to get to the tool shed Heero slid down in the darkest corner he could find and began to shiver. Duo knelt by his side. He checked his shivering friend over entirely and growled as he found more injuries then just the ones Heero had claimed earlier. The boy's wrists were likely sprained at best and broken at worst. The ankle was definitely a big mess, but how big was impossible to deduce with the swelling on it and he wasn't even going to begin to assess the mental scarring this place had put on Heero. He'd have his work cut out for him if he was to help Heero. The boy would likely be stuck in his own mental prison for a while yet, but for now Duo rationalized it didn't matter. A small part of Heero was still yearning for freedom and the boy was grasping that part with both hands. Duo would help Heero to escape this place and after once they were in Quatre's territory? Well he hoped that just the knowledge that without Quatre's permission no one would ever lock him up again would help Heero break his own isolation and truly break free from the prison for good.

Duo grabbed a discarded potato sack that lay in the shed and began to work. The shed had no window so he had to rely on Quatre's information and his own observations prior to getting arrested. By those bits of information he calculated that they had only to wait for a little under an hour and then by that time, just before the prison's cells would open on the command of Duo's nifty little program, they would be in a laundry truck and ushered out the gates quickly to get the unarmed civilian Laundromat people out before they got caught in the violence of the mass break out.

Duo laughed as he finished turning the sack into a makeshift backpack and put the first aid chest's contents in it. Quatre had been quite adamant about how it was only Heero wanting to prove he wasn't a mindless killer that kept him in lock up and that if Heero had truly wanted to he'd have been able to escape at least five times before they noticed he did. They were so far not detected and his day in jail had been well worth it to learn the schedule of feeding and beating the guards maintained. The tool shed yielded some interesting odds and ends for him to use later on, but not much in the way of food Duo had counted on that though and had several points along the route he'd chosen to travel set up to yield food packs and medicine of all kinds for him to utilize.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Heero sighed softly as he watched Duo rummage around the tool shed. Part of him; the annoying part that was shaking, wanted very much to go back and not do anything to risk speeding up his inevitably painful death. However a slowly growing part of him was jumping for joy at the thought of leaving behind the walls of this place. All too soon for his liking they were on the move again; Duo urging him and coaxing him to come along. He had spend the time until sunrise in his corner of the shed watching Duo pack up everything that might be important. He'd meekly eaten the nutribar Duo pushed into his hands, but only after Duo snapped at him to eat it using their war time codes.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

_I should go back…it's dangerous…I don't want to get in trouble…they'll send me to the tank…I don't like the tank…anything but that… _He pulled his legs closer to himself trying not to shiver.

If we go back now they'll just lock us back up and torture us more. he looked up at the voice that sounded so much like his own. The other before him was much taller and he had a hard time looking all the way up. The other looked just like him; only his pants were different. The other looked down at him sadly.

_But they'll be more angry if I don't come back. I have to be a good boy. I have to do what they say. I don't want to be punished._ he whispered softly looking back down. The other kneeled by his side.

They'll punish you either way. The other said frowning as he looked at his younger self.

_But this guy… _he asked confusedly. He'd always been taught never to go with strangers. Even Old man Odin had said so.

You can trust him. He's good people. the other his older self said.

_Nu uh! Odin said so! never trust anyone! Other people will just end up betraying you if they think it'll help them get better or if they can get money! _he said angrily.

Duo won't. He's good people; he'll protect us. his older self said stubbornly.

_You say that, but what if you're just lying too? _he said wrapping his arms tighter around himself.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	5. Break out 5

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 5,  
**

Quatre stared at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a traditional Arabian outfit that at one time had belonged to his father and grandfather before him and were worn for official functions only. He strongly disliked the billowy outfit that tended to hamper his movements should he have to fight and which made him look like a child trying to dress like an adult instead of a strong soon to be leader. For this occasion he would bear with it. After all he wasn't going to fight physically at all this time and this outfit had the traditional Arabian headgear which allowed for him to add an extra bit of insurance and protection. He smiled at Trowa who wore a similar outfit, but less detailed and not quite as much expensive materials as his own. Trowa's was simply a fancier version of the Maquanac uniform with fancier head gear.

"To be honest, it doesn't do you justice Quat." Relena said walking in and once more adjusting her outfit that she'd been given by Quatre to wear to the event today.

"I know…I look like a child playing dress-up, but my grandfather wore this for his formal functions and if I am to make a proper impression I must dress the part ne? How is the dress? Not too heavy?" Quatre said turning away from the mirror to Relena who smiled.

"Yes, you're right. No the dress feels fine. If you hadn't told me what this fabric was I would've been convinced it's plain silk." Relena said smiling as she gave her two friends a twirl so they could see the dress.

"That's why I love him. Only he could come up with the idea for a lightweight non-conspicuous looking material that to the eye looks like any other fabric and is still just as strongly bullet proof as any conventional bullet proof material." Trowa said giving Quatre a peck on the cheek and grinning when Relena blushed.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

When Heero had been pulled from his hospital bed still injured and unconscious, Relena had been shocked and after finding out just why this was done had called her lawyers to assist Heero during his trial. After that she'd called Quatre who'd given her a number to reach him on in case of trouble during the war. The blond immediately had sent Trowa over to come pick her up and when he as he brought her to Quatre's explained that Quatre had told his legal team to aid Relena's lawyers where needed and work on freeing Heero.

After a constant legal fight lasting almost the entire first 3 years of Heero's incarceration Relena and Quatre had become even better acquainted and even the quiet Trowa had during this time come to be a very good friend of hers. She found the quiet acrobat/clown/ex-pilot to have his own unique dry sense of humor and a determination that knew no end. Relena had also for the first time been introduced to what Duo had once laughingly called the interior decorating side of the force; she'd been quite surprised to walk into the kitchen one morning during an extended visit to Quatre's and find the blond locked at the lips with the taller brunette whilst sitting on his lap. She'd quickly fled the kitchen and upon returning to her room had a mini breakdown over it before picking herself up and reflecting on her knowledge and coming to the conclusion that she had no problem with it at all other than the slight prudishness that came with life in a high profile family where public displays of affection were concerned.

Quatre had come to her room at some point to ask if she was okay and was pleasantly surprised to find Relena so readily accepting the fact that he was gay and happily in love with Trowa. Their friendship if anything had become even tighter because this and over the years as both worked tirelessly Relena had become a confidant to Quatre concerning his plans and how to approach them. She had offered insightful advice and even pointed out Quatre's glaringly obvious flaw of over-analyzing his plans and she regularly saw to it that Quatre and Trowa who both were equally easily absorbed by their work for Quatre's plan were dragged out of their respective offices for some much needed rest and relaxation. She could however still not get used to the sight of them publicly kissing however innocent it usually looked.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Relena blinked when she heard Trowa's familiar husky laugh echoed by Quatre's soft chuckle and grinned back.

"Oh you two…you enjoy this far too much." she said chuckling herself.

"We do. Come on. I have a country formation to announce and I want to get it done sooner rather than later. Rashid is doing the security with the other Maquanacs as the Lady couldn't provide." Quatre said smiling.

The three of them left the room and headed to the stage set up outside. Quatre had refused to announce his country indoors with the claim that he hadn't gone through two wars just to cower in a building whenever he had to go public; he better than anyone else knew that assassins were going to get you wherever you stood and he'd rather face them where they couldn't make a ton of building materials crush him. Relena had admitted that she felt safer out in the open for the very same reasons.

"Winner! Break a leg." Sally Po called grinning as she followed Wufei over to the blond just exiting the changing rooms and heading for the door of the small building he'd hired for this purpose. Both were in formal attire and here upon Quatre's personal invitation.

"That depends on whether someone decides to pick a fight over this Sally, but thanks. Wufei! It's good to see you. Is it me or have you gotten taller since last I saw you. I really need to get this announcement over with so I'll finally have some time for private matters." Quatre said giving Wufei a quick hug and receiving it back with some reserve that he knew was ingrained tradition for Wufei.

"It's good to see you as well and yes I think I've finally hit my long overdue growth spurt. You look well. Any news about Yuy?" Wufei said with some pride before frowning at his own question.

"As of yet no change, but we're working on it." Quatre said. He felt bad for leaving Wufei out of the loop, but knew that he couldn't afford to let Wufei in on his plans concerning Heero as the other worked for Preventors and was at enough risk without the possibility of being blamed for knowing of the plans. Wufei had long ago agreed that he should be kept as informed as possible without ever really knowing anything.

"I'm sure you'll do what's needed. Are you certain about this announcement though? I hear it's big and dangerous." Wufei said nodding gravely in understanding.

"I am. It's what I want." Quatre said seriously. 'what we deserve.' he added mentally.

"I have a bad feeling though." Wufei said quietly.

"Don't worry about it Wufei. I will be fine. I better be or I'll need to adjust my formula. I take it Une was happy with her gift?" Quatre said as he, Trowa and Relena walked toward the stage and Sally and Wufei joined them.

"Oh she was simply overjoyed about it. She won't stop talking about how good that fabric feels and how light and still strong it is." Sally said grinning at the memory of the day when Quatre sent over a shipment of preventor uniforms made of his new invention he called bullet proof cloth. Essentially it was only a part of the material that made up the cloth, but it was that very weave that made the cloth strong and it had been Quatre's genius mind that found a way to make it light weight and still bullet proof. It'd been a widely spoken of day especially because Quatre's donation of the formula to preventors had served to cement his good intentions toward world peace.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

'Show-time.' Trowa thought as he and Quatre stood across the entire board of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's ruling council. Relena had taken her place within the board and had put on a poker face that could rival his own. Trowa stood behind his lover as Quatre began the speech he'd prepared about how his ancestors had founded the land his family lived on and how he had inherited enough land for a small state. After this came the boring part on how he'd accomplished his devious plan and what had been done to parts of the world and the entirety of the L4 colony that he used to own.

"And so it is with some pride that I announce the formation of and issue a formal declaration of independence of my newly amassed country Genesis." Quatre finished with a dark mental grin and a daring look toward the council. They did not disappoint. Tierra Arday jumped at this dare instantly. Quatre hid a satisfied grin at this and prepared for what came.

"You can't do this! There are laws and regulations! You're going against-" he began, but Quatre simply raised a hand in his usual placid way and with a calm peaceful smile spoke up.

"I've done my homework sir; there is no law that states that I can't do this. There is of course a statute of law saying that the people of the new country must agree and as you can see in this complete file on the matter that I've kept that's also in order. I've given them the choice to stay and live quietly as they have with slowly improving conditions on the points they were allowed to bring up to me if they felt I should do something about it or they could pack up and find a new living space within ESUN territory and I would provide them with the finances and all other needs for them to be relocated. You'll find on pages 593 and 1239 and also, on the final page where you'll find the abbreviated version of this plan, you'll find that I've already begun mass reforming of the existing economical structure, implementing the new system of law and massively reforming and educating my people all out of my own pocket of course and the latter only if my people should wish to attend the re-education program and even then you'll note they have a great deal of right to give input on things should they feel something was not correct. You'll find on page 1278 to page 1323 a complete explanation along with schematics of everything I plan to do for my country as well as how we plan to keep up contact with ESUN. I've already on your own approval got a lasting contract to supply preventors with their supplies where I feel I can contribute without breaching my country's laws and regulations; these you can find on page 234 to 344 by the way."Quatre said as an aid handed out a thick bookwork on Genesis that Quatre had personally worked out and had copied and printed for the council.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Tierra stared at the bookwork given to him incredulously. He quickly read the mentioned pages and found everything to be as the blond said which infuriated him. Then something hit him and with an unpleasantly sweet grin he looked at the blond.

"What of escaped criminals? Will you give them asylum?" he asked. Quatre just looked at him with that same peaceful smile.

"As you could read in the aforementioned pages my country has a strong system of law. My law enforcers will look into how far what you accuse them of applies to our system and if we find that their crime indeed goes against our system of law they will be delivered back to ESUN of course." Quatre said calmly. He was about to say more, but instead froze all of half a second before flinging himself at the aid who was standing in front of him at that moment to hand him the remaining copy. He covered the young woman as the crowd gasped and he heard Rashid initiate crowd control while Wufei had taken out the shooter just seconds after Quatre moved.

"Are you alright?" Quatre asked smiling kindly at the woman. She nodded frightfully and upon his insistence quickly hurried off stage as Trowa helped Quatre in a sitting position and picked the bullet out of his back where it had not gotten past the first layer, but the force had left a painful sting in Quatre's back and knocked the wind out of him a bit.

"Well that could've gone worse." Quatre finally said as Trowa helped him up.

"Indeed. I see your reflexes are still sharp." Tierra said with a glare. Quatre simply raised an eyebrow and continued to dust himself off before turning back.

"Well then, if that was all I'll be going. I have a country to improve you know?" he said challenging Tierra once more. Tierra was slowly losing to his anger, but held on with grim determination.

"You can't start a country without being backed up by 51 percent of the council." he said with a dark and angry smirk.

"I've found no laws claiming this, but if you insist. What will you chose members of the ESUN High council?" Quatre asked smiling and turning to the men and women standing behind Tierra.

"I am against this formation of a new country! It's in this time of peace that we can't afford to have another place with the power to wage war! These ideas are foolish! The foolish dreams of a deluded teenager with old money backing him up!" Tierra said glaring at Quatre. A lot of mumbling erupted all around until Relena stepped forward.

"I stand behind mister Winner and his country! I was asked as neutral party of the ESUN council to go and observe mister Winner's plans. I've seen these plans, discussed them deeply with mister Winner asked all the questions I could think of and even was allowed to see his work in action! I've accompanied mister Winner as he traveled through the territory he owned and planned on owning and discussed with both the common people AND the resident leaders just what he planned and formed strong and lasting connections with what will be as of today his people! Mister Winner has reformation plans for the economical structure that he will personally finance and plans to have done within the year; creating more jobs, better security, well thought out health plans and which will give the people of his country the basic needs every human should have! In his detailed plan as he displayed it to us today you'll find on page 798 a full clause on how he plans for ESUN representatives to come and observe his progress and even the visit of Preventors dignitaries that will see to it that he also keeps to his own laws and none of it is against ESUN law!" Relena at this point spoke up as she walked past Tierra to stand behind Quatre.

This revelation caused much uproar among the crowd gathered and those watching at home, but also among the members of the High council. Quatre mentally grinned. Relena was still the political darling of ESUN and if she approved of something the people of the world would agree with her. Relena had known this too which had been the reason why she'd insisted he and she act formal toward one another in public and why she'd wait until then to speak up. Tierra would try to discredit Quatre, but Quatre knew he'd won the second Relena made her speech. Secretly he was amazed that she'd found these things on page 798 with how little time Tierra had given the council members to read it all.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Tierra steeled himself and Quatre shot him yet another challenging look. The assassin earlier while not planned had been a good thing to Quatre. It showed immediately that he had a working task force ready for anything and with his brothers backing him up there was no threat he couldn't face head on. Now though came the tough part of this declaration. He knew Tierra would pull out everything he could find on him and use it to discredit him. If he could keep calm and not let Tierra get the better of him then…

"…and what of the L3 incident? What if mister Winner 'loses it' again and tries to destroy this so called country or worse?" Tierra said giving Winner a pointed look. Quatre stared at Tierra; so much for keeping a straight face.

"He won't." Trowa spoke up. Quatre turned to him when he sensed his lover stepping up behind him and wrapping his arms around him.

"Mister Winner and I share a history dating back to the war. The lady can inform you of that as I worked for her at the time of the incident you refer to. We war traumatized men agreed that such a thing will never happen again and should he or I ever come to a point where we lose our sanity to that degree then we will shoot the person in question without hesitation and we will shoot to kill; no question to it. If ever mister Winner falls to that state again the order will stand; he dies before anyone will be hurt. Every member involved in law enforcement and personal security up to and including myself and mister Winner's private army will know to shoot on sight if he tries to destroy at that scale. However I have full confidence that this rule will be merely a precaution for the rest of mister Winner's natural life. He after all is seeing a therapist still for his war trauma. Furthermore is it really right for you to use that instance as an example? It's widely known that the gundam involved had a system that would cause delusion to anyone not sound of mind enough to withstand it's direct integration with the human brain and the immense amount of information it feeds you. Also it was established back then even that mister Winner wasn't at all sound of mind having just lost his father and sister in what is widely considered the most pointless and ruthless cut-throat technique of OZ to date. Grief can force a man to madness; grief combined with that insane system created by madmen can cause even a gundam pilot of the highest caliber to lose it. However, the reason that instance doesn't serve your purpose is because mister Winner after the event regained his common sense and grieved for his actions and from then on worked toward atoning for what he'd done. Besides financing everything for his new country he also financed the rebuild of that colony and personally visited the relatives of those who lost their lives offering them whatever he could give them or aid them with to atone for his crime. It really isn't fair to hang something over him that was enforced upon him by his instructor who sent him to war and created that monstrosity." Trowa said calmly.

Tierra looked at the taller man as he spoke and gritted his teeth as more and more members of the council were moving to stand beside Winner. He then got a good look at Trowa and saw within the depths of his one visible eye hidden by the calm the promise of a quick death if he ever chose to hurt the blond. In his mind several things clicked and while the back of his mind was slowly coming to the conclusion that he well and truly being trounced in this verbal battle, a small part of his mind not occupied with finding something to keep this brat from winning supplied a single word and that word left his lips before he realized he'd said it.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Quatre and Trowa both stared at the man before looking at one another to confirm that the man had really just said that. Quatre now stepped forward drawing himself up to his full height and letting go of the restraint he'd held up through this all; allowing himself to show the full force of just who and what he was and look as imposing as he possibly could with the resemblance of a boy in man's clothes. He clung like a starved man to the last bit of his calm.

"Really? After all that THIS is what you wish to counter with? After all that talk about how dangerous I am and how I could kill at any moment THIS is your final choice for not wanting my country to exist? I'm gay? Really? That's it? I must say I thought I came prepared for anything, but this? I did not expect a member of the ESUN council to be so short sighted that he would deny a declaration or request based upon sexual preference. Yes I am Gay and I'm not afraid to admit it. I have a wonderful boyfriend and I would love to shamelessly flaunt him in public, but I respect that some people might not like gay men. I don't throw my orientation in people's face or display indecent behavior in public. I don't ask of the people of my country that they change their views just for me or anyone else who might be of a similar persuasion, but I ask of them is understanding and acceptance of the fact that these people have their own views and so long as these people don't force themselves or their views on others I fail to see why such a short sighted thing as sexual preference should stand in the way of what will one day be a beautiful country that will continue to contribute to ESUN and the world wide desire for peace."Quatre finished. Then he turned and watched as the last members of the council chose a side on the matter and he smiled warmly.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	6. Break out 6

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 6,**

Duo watched Heero quietly as they drove along the road for a good couple of minutes. The other seemed to be sleeping, but his whole body was tense belying this. It'd been almost four hours since their escape and Duo knew he had a lot of ground to cover still. He knew that by now the prison realized they'd escaped and were probably questioning the laundry guys for all the good it did. All they could tell was that a hiking teen at the northern forest found them and woke them up. It'd hopefully take that idiot warden a while to realize that it wasn't a hiking teen at all, but one of his convicts. He'd given Heero the order to get out of sight before he hauled the two men back into their truck and began his act. The trucker asked if he was hiking in the area and since he likely would be it wasn't a lie so he just left it at that he had a lot of ground to cover, but didn't want to leave them there unconscious in case they got unwell. The two laundry guys thanked him and went on their way not entirely sure how they got there or what had happened to them.

That had been almost four hours ago now and Duo had found them a vehicle beside the road near a hunting trail. He'd apologized to the hikers who'd owned it before hoisting Heero into the pick-up and driving off. He knew he had to get to his first marker fast and have Heero switch clothes. After that he'd abandon the car somewhere near the nearest gas station and back track. Heero would wait for him at the marker location and hopefully eat what Duo gave him.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Heero watched quietly as Duo rooted around under a tree a good few feet away from the road where he'd parked the car. The part of him that still functioned wondered what the boy was searching for and soon got his answer when Duo got up and pulled with him a black pouch. From within the pouch he retrieved clean clothes for Heero to wear.

"Sorry buddy I know it's probably not your favorite wear, but it's all I got right now. When we get to 04's location he'll be sure to see you outfitted with whatever you love wearing." Duo said smiling apologetically as he handed Heero clean underpants, jeans and a dark green t-shirt. He then pulled from the pouch a pair of sneakers with socks wadded in them. He handed the socks to Heero who had already started stripping and was putting on the clean underwear before accepting the socks and dropping them on the dirty prison outfit he'd until then worn.

If Duo even noticed the scarred mess of his back he was kind enough not to say anything. Heero turned back around as he pulled the t-shirt over his head and found himself face to nose with a pair of sneakers which he quickly accepted and put on also. Duo then shoved a bag in his hand. Heero blinked at it and looked at Duo for guidance.

"Food and water. The real deal not whatever that slob was they fed you in that place. Eat and drink and don't move from this spot. You can't be seen from here. I'll be back in an hour." Duo said before handing him a jacket that Heero now realized had been what he thought was a pouch. Heero nodded and shrugged on the jacket before sitting down and opening the bag. There was a packet of fruit juice in it, 2 bottle of water and…

Heero hungrily tore into his meal. He'd not seen a real sandwich in seven years and this one though loaded with all the wrong things looked just divine.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

See? He's good people. He got us out and he's feeding us. Elder him said smugly.

_I still don't trust him. He did leave us here._ he growled back.

You'll see. One hour and he's back. elder him said before walking around a bit. He watched the elder walk around. Annoying as he was he was the only other living thing here and the elder was also the first person he had to talk to.

_So how come you're here?_ he asked looking at the other.

I'm here because you are. the older him said not looking away from whatever it was he apparently saw in the nothing.

_That makes no sense. You don't have to be here. It's my punishment…_ he whispered hugging his legs tighter.

I guess it doesn't. You're here though and till you find it I'm here too. the elder him said shrugging.

_Find what?_ he wondered, but he received no answer and so he pouted.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

"Hey buddy, I see you liked the sandwiches." Duo said grinning as he found Heero holding two bottles of water and thinking of where to stuff the juice pack. He realized that this meant that Heero had eaten all of it and this meant he'd be living on an empty stomach until the next marker, but that wasn't so bad. He'd lived on nothing for longer than a few days after all.

"Here let me put that away." Duo said stuffing the empty juice carton in his backpack when Heero had handed it to him.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

After watching Heero open the bag of food Duo gathered up the prison clothes and returned to the car. He drove a good ten minutes to the nearest gas station and kept driving another five minutes. There he parked and pretended to be taking a leak while he disposed of the prison get up in the channel next to the high way. He then got in the car and drove to the next gas station where he parked the car and took the route around the building to stay out of sight as he backtracked his way to where Heero was. He was somewhat worried to find that Heero had indeed not moved, but no one had come and approached the boy either.

Duo sighed softly after packing up the juice carton and urged Heero to get moving again. He knew they would have to cover a lot of ground before reaching the Georgian border from where they could enter Quatre's territory and they had to get as far as possible before Quatre announced the new country he had worked for almost 10 years to create. Duo knew the announcement was due in two days and if they were lucky the guards of the prison would likely contact the warden and not give chase just yet. However he knew if the warden ordered for them to find the two they'd have every police and law enforcement party in the wide surroundings on their tail. Besides the more ground they covered now the better their chances of reaching their destination. Duo though really wanted to get to a hunting lodge he'd seen during recon where he knew he could treat some of Heero's injuries, but it was too far to reach it today.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

"Wufei! You and Sally, my office now!" Lady Une yelled as she saw the Chinese youth walk toward the elevator. Wufei shrugged and headed back to his office to retrieve his partner. If the Lady was in this sort of mood where she had forgotten the building came with intercoms then it had to be bad and he wasn't about to have himself castrated over ignoring her. He liked his manhood fine the way it was thank you so much.

"Woman the commander wants us in her office yesterday." Wufei said sticking his head pas the door of his office to make sure Sally heard. Sally was already on her feet though and walking beside him to Une's office in seconds.

"Any idea what she wanted?" Sally asked. Wufei shrugged.

"Don't know, but she didn't bother with the intercom so it's bound to be something political." Wufei said frowning. Sally nodded. She knew all too well that it only ever concerned politically sensitive cases if the Lady was snapping orders and if she forgot the intercom on her desk then it had to be something terribly sensitive in nature.

"Good you're here. I was called by Moscow state prison. Apparently a high profile criminal managed to escape unseen and they want preventors to help apprehend him." Lady Une said pacing around in her office as the two watched her.

"And you want us to go there and help? Do we get an ID, an MO anything?" Wufei said raising an eyebrow.

"That's what annoys me! They wouldn't give me any information other than that he was in prison for mass murder on global scale, terrorism and that he had to have had an accomplice. Apparently the accomplice managed to rig the security network so that at 20:00 four nights ago all doors in the facility opened at once like they do during a fire drill. This resulted in a mass break out attempt during which apparently the high profile criminal and his accomplice were able to escape the premises without leaving any trails. It took the prison personnel forty-eight hours to realize that they were missing two prisoners that had been in the isolation cells and it took them another day to contact their warden who contacted me earlier that they needed help tracking these dangerous criminals. I don't like this matter one bit as they refused to reveal any information other then that the car the two stole was found near a gas station due south some kilometers. There are towns that way so they're assuming the two headed in that direction most likely on foot after ditching the car. Their prison get up was found floating in the water due east of the prison though…I want you two to head north. You move out ASAP." Une said slamming her hands down on the desk as she told them which direction to head into. The two agents saluted and left the office to prepare for their mission.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	7. Break out 7

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 7,**

Quatre grinned as he stared at the screen of his PC. Duo had left a short note on one of the old safe lines they'd set up during the wars and through which they kept in touch during their times in hiding whenever all other communication lines seemed to be too dangerous. The note looked simple enough, but you had to know the meaning behind the simple little story that on its own seemed harmless. Quatre out of this simple thank you for an invite to a birthday party was able to glean that Duo had succeeded in freeing Heero and was traveling on foot to Genesis ground. The note was dated two days before his announcement which meant that Heero and Duo had left the prison about two days before that and this placed them at the border between Former Russia now part of Sanq and Georgia currently part of the Arabian union of States which were not part of Quatre's territory, but belonged to ESUN right now much like the Sanq kingdom, the Unified African Lands, the united continent of America and…well everything that didn't belong to him really. The note also told him it would take them a good month or so to reach Genesis ground provided they didn't run into resistance or get captured.

He was happy with this news, but worried also as he knew thanks to Relena that Tierra Arday had personally involved Preventors with the capture of the two escaped 'highly dangerous criminals' without letting the Lady know who the two were. This he knew could mean trouble for not only him, but preventors especially. He'd sent Trowa to go collect evidence; in the highest secrecy of course. The tall brunette would be back come daybreak and would hopefully have exactly what Quatre needed to prove the deception by Tierra.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Wufei glared at the rock that blocked their path. He'd glared at everything and everyone since he'd been given his orders and Sally wasn't in any better a mood. She didn't like this mission and neither did he. He knew full well something about this mission was fishy. They were off to capture two criminals without knowing who they are or why they are considered a 'shoot first and ask questions never' couple. They had to do this in what was easily considered quite inhospitable territory and they had to take the hardest to navigate through direction as well. Every fiber of his being screamed trap as loud as they could.

"Fucking nature…" Sally grunted as she searched for a way around the rock and found that the only way around it was to scale the narrow ridge beside the path where one wrong move meant a long one way drop fifty feet down into the ravine that ran alongside the path here.

"Woman lets backtrack and pick the other path. I swear this mission is rigged." Wufei said staring at the ravine and feeling a sudden bout of nausea at the very thought of trying to scale that narrow ridge.

"Yeah whatever…when this mission is over I want words with the lady…four letter ones…lots and lots of four letter ones…I'm glad though that you agree that this mission is going to give us no end of trouble…" Sally muttered. She no more fancied dancing with death than Wufei did, but her gut was screaming corruption since they got out of Une's office. She could only hope that they'd find those criminals soon so she and Wufei could get out of this wasteland in the middle of icy former Russia.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Duo grunted as he nearly stared at the split in the road.

"Stay here imma run down this left side path n see where it is headed. I'll be back in twenty minutes tops." he said turning to Heero and pointing toward the left most of the two paths. Once he'd watched Heero sit down Duo began to jog down the path and soon he was out of sight. Once out of sight he took off in a dead run wanting to waste as little daylight as possible in this half frozen wasteland. It took him only five minutes of running to reach a large rock that had chosen to land on the path and block it safe a tiny ledge with a fifty foot drop down into a ravine next to it.

"Not going this way…there's no telling with that ankle…damnit wish I'd been able to fix it back at the cottage…" Duo muttered glaring at the ravine before turning and jogging back to where Heero still sat.

Heero nodded staring at the two roads before them before sitting down on a rock close to where he stood. He was tired and his ankle throbbed continuously now. Once they'd reached the cottage Duo had done all he could for him, but the ankle was too swollen from the walking on it to really tell what was going on and come morning Duo hadn't been able to do more than jab in a needle of some kind of liquid he said would work to remove any infections in his broken ankle. Heero knew it was broken and he knew Duo knew too, but until the swelling went down it couldn't be splinted. Unfortunately though the small radio reported the prison riot and escape of two prisoners the next morning and Duo hadn't dared to stay at the cottage long enough to wait for the swelling to go down enough to fix Heero's broken ankle enough that he'd be able to walk relatively painlessly with it.

"We're taking the right path after you eat. There's a big rock and a fifty foot ravine blocking the way if we go left. I'm not risking you falling. Let's go right. You follow my path. I broke a lot of undergrowth and branches on the left path to make it look like we went that way. Not sure how much it will fool anyone though, but it's worth the try. I'll try and lead us so we don't leave too much of a clear sign we went this way." Duo said helping Heero get up. Heero nodded to him and he smiled reassuringly before leading the way again.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

"Wufei? Do you think we'll find anything out here?" Sally asked her partner as he trudged on along stubbornly.

"No, I'm convinced that we won't. Une deliberately chose this direction to send us in because it's a wasteland and there's at least a month's travel between here and the nearest town in this direction. If we find them somewhere along this path it will be fool's luck…" Wufei said quietly. Sally nodded to this and kept following behind him.

She'd long ago accepted that Wufei had been raised traditionally and that with that came a certain need to protect women from harm that tended to lead him to take the lead or be slightly reckless when it came to her. She knew she could argue until they turned purple in the face and never come to an agreement on the matter so she simply let him. She silently wondered if there would ever be a day that he'd come to accept her enough to deviate from his usual formal ways and actually use her name for once.

'_easy buddy….ke if you….not hun…st up kay?'_

Wufei raised his hand in a sign to be quiet. Sally simply nodded. She'd heard too. It was distant from around the next bend in the path. Someone was there. She quietly snuck around the left side while Wufei disappeared into the undergrowth on the right side. They knew not who was there, but Sally couldn't help but wonder why the voice she'd heard had sounded familiar.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

_What do you see there anyway? _ he asked the older him who was smiling at something beyond the nothing.

You'll see when you finally find it. his older self said as he walked away to the other side again and looked there and then smiled again.

_That again? There's nothing here…just me and you and the big black nothing…How can I even see you anyway? _he said pouting.

Because. the older him said frowning at something now.

_Meaning you don't know or won't tell me._ he muttered pouting again. He hated it when the older him didn't want to tell him things. He hated this nothing too, but it wasn't so bad now his other self was here; even if nothing he said made sense and out there beyond the nothing things happened that made no sense to him.

For days he'd had to sit here as the stranger led him through forests and mountains and across snow. He'd had to endure the other touching his hurting areas and putting stuff on it that should supposedly make the pain less, but didn't really. He didn't like that the stranger would look like he felt sorry for him and he hated that his older self kept telling him to trust the stranger and that the stranger would save them. He stared ahead of himself and pulled his knees tighter to his chest.

_I don't like it…_ he said quietly.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	8. Break out 8

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 8,**

Wufei and Sally met each other again when yet another ravine blocked their path; or perhaps it was the other end of that same ravine. An old tree conveniently created a natural bridge and from the other side the voices drifted back to them. One clear the other muted as if that person spoke quieter. Wufei hissed softly realizing that this meant that the winds in this place were throwing them for a loop and quickly hurried toward the tree as Sally got onto it.

Sally was already preparing the scale the fallen tree; a knife in each hand ready for quick strike. Wufei was about to speak when she cut him off.

"We both know my balance isn't nearly as good as yours so holding a gun is not a safe option for me. I need to have equal weight on either side so I won't plummet to my death. Besides if these are our perps and they really are armed with guns as that warden claims they are then I'm going to want to have the knowledge that you'll be behind me ready let loose a barrage of bullets when I kiss tree bark." she said staring at the other side to keep her balance and her guard up. Wufei simply nodded and got onto the tree behind her. He waited for her to reach the center of the tree before slowly inching his own way across.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Duo sighed tiredly and pulled out another two nutri bars to feed Heero. Heero however stared at them now before opening one and eating it. Duo stared at the mountain range spanning out before them. They still had quite some ground to cover and after a week of tracking through rough terrain Heero's ankle was looking worse than when they left. His wrist had been sprained bad enough that it had to cause him no end of pain and the cut that ran along his other wrist had gotten infected something fierce. The cut on his other wrist though worried Duo.

"Let me see yer left wrist Heero." he said quietly. Heero said nothing and simply handed him his wrist as he took another bite of his first nutria bar while Duo inspected it. Duo hissed angrily as he realized the cut was indeed badly infected.

"Heero?" Duo said waiting for the other to look at him.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

"Heero?" Duo asked quietly. He looked up the other who was leading him was heard penetrating the silence of the nothing he lived in with his elder self.

_What's he want? _he asked uncertain.

Must be important if he wants you to look at him. his older self said. He looked at the elder him who as usual didn't say more and waited for the other who was leading to speak again.

"Yer wrist is badly infected…if I dun do s'mthin bout it…it will start to rot from the inside out." Duo's voice was heard saying.

_He's lying…right?_ he said looking at the elder him who shook his head grimly.

He'll have to amputate it in two days if nothing is done. the elder him said calmly. He shivered at this and hugged himself even tighter. Then he screamed in terror as pain cut through him; white hot and blinding. Suddenly the elder him was next to him and held him. he looked down at his left arm and felt his stomach churn. Blood dripped from it.

_LIES! LIES! YOU PROMISED HE WOULDN'T HURT ME! _ he cried as the elder him held him tightly with his right arm and the left came up bleeding also. He stared at it and thrashed to get away.

He won't hurt us. This is to save us. the elder said quietly as he held his own bleeding arm.

_But you're…_ he said confusedly. The elder him smiled.

Duo does what has to be done to save us and help us. Duo is good people. elder him simply said as he tried to grasp what was going on.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Sally very nearly fell as she reached the end of the fallen tree and a pained scream tore through the area. Wufei cursed as he overcompensated mid step from being startled by the scream. He managed to keep from falling though and quickly made his way to Sally's end of the log before anything else could cause him to fall to his death.

"We better hurry." he said looking at sally severely. She nodded back and quickly darted into the thick forest as Wufei did the same from the other side and with her encircled the area from where the scream had come.

Sally blinked and quickly got out of hiding when she saw just who were sitting there she called out an all clear signal for Wufei who belatedly as the Chinese youth was already beside Duo and asking questions.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Duo stared at Heero as he seemed to contemplate what Duo told him before nodding and holding out his arm again. Duo took the knife he'd sterilized as best he could in the flame of the lighter he'd lifted from the car before he dumped it. He then took Heero's arm and quickly inserted the knife into the existing cut. He very nearly dropped his knife and cursed angrily as a pained scream ripped from Heero's throat as soon as the knife slid into the cut. Only the knowledge that he would hurt Heero worse kept him from actually dropping the hand or the knife. He watched as wave after wave of stinking ooze came out of the injury and made sure the wound stayed open until it bled. He then let go of Heero's hand and grabbed his bag which held a small amount of medical gear still. He was busily wrapping the freshly opened wound when Wufei came out of the trees to his left and very nearly gave him a heart attack. Heero's body went tense and his own along with it. The two stared at Wufei who looked from one to the other confusedly.

"What are you two doing here? Are you also tracking the escaped criminals? Why is Heero injured? Who did that to him?" Wufei asked quickly as he looked from one to the other and back. Sally soon joined him and took over wrapping up Heero's wrist from Duo.

"Long story Fei…long story. Got any food on ya? I'm starving and Heero needs food. No nutri bars are not food Heero." Duo said to Wufei before turning to Heero who opened his mouth to say he just ate.

"We have more of the same I'm afraid. We're on a mission to capture some highly dangerous criminals who for all we know could be half way to the lunar base by now…We only bring bars on missions like this as they're easy to keep on your person." Sally sighed as she finished bandaging Heero's arm. So what ARE you two doing out here?" Sally asked also.

Duo met Heero's eyes and saw the fear; no the terror in them. He sighed quietly and asked Sally to check on Heero's ankle which served to instantly divert her attention away from her question, but Wufei wasn't so easily distracted unfortunately.

"Like I said Fei. It's a long story and we've been on our feet all day. If yer dun mind I'd like for Heero to get s'm rest now." Duo said. Wufei nodded to this. He didn't like it, but he knew if Duo's speech dropped into street slur he was really too tired to stand on his feet, but holding on by grim determination and by the look of Heero the other definitely needed the rest.

"He can take my spare sleeping bag once Wufei brings over the supplies we left thinking we might have found the perps and be able to leave this half frozen hell." Sally said giving Wufei a look that said for him to get moving not that he needed the look as he had gotten up the second Sally offered her sleeping bag.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	9. Break out 9

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 9,**

Wufei stared up at the tree covered sky. He'd tried for hours to get some rest, but the thoughts crowding in his mind just wouldn't allow him to fall asleep. There were just too many uncertainties; too many irregularities. Nothing made sense and so he'd resigned to telling Duo to get some rest while he watched their fire. In this territory it was all that stood between them and freezing to death. He counted himself lucky that it was for Russia the height of summer now making their surviving a night like this much less dangerous.

Too many questions raced through his mind though as he stared at the flames of their fire. Why was Duo using his defense mechanisms against them? How did Heero get to be this injured? Why were the two of them out this way? What had happened since he last saw Heero that put the other in this withdrawn state of being? Why did they get sent on this wild goose chase and why did that warden send them this way alone while the other teams were made up of at least ten men or women?

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sally said sitting down beside him. Wufei blinked and sighed. Only she could somehow manage to sneak past his defenses to the point of him not even noticing her till she entered his line of sight.

"You'd be a poor woman if I accepted that…" Wufei murmured glaring at the fire now.

"That many huh? Glad to know I'm not the only one who has many questions…I've got a bad feeling about this Wufei; had it since we first got our orders…only got worse since we left…my gut…every fiber just screams danger…" Sally said staring at the flames too. Wufei watched her quietly a moment before awkwardly pulling her closer to him.

"We'll find out more tomorrow. Maxwell will answer or so help me I'll….I'll tickle him until he does." Wufei said remembering a little secret he found out on accident.

"Tickle? You'll have to tell me the memory behind that one someday. Must have been hilarious." Sally said chuckling softly. She knew Wufei was as worried as she was and was glad he tried to at least dispel her worries a little despite his own state of mind.

"I might some day and it was actually not at all a funny situation, but looking back we can both laugh about it. Seriously though, I want answers. If they…I need to know what we might have to protect them against…Heero…" Wufei murmured.

"Heero's not doing well…and I'm not talking injuries either…I've never seen his eyes so distant…he was genuinely scared when you wanted to know why they were there…like…like he half expects us to do who knows what…" Sally agreed.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Duo smiled and mentally cursed his lack of a camera at this point just a little. He couldn't help it. He'd woken up and gone to find the stream he'd filled his bottles at the other day just before he'd sat Heero down to check his injuries. When he returned awake and well as clean as one got washing oneself with icy cold water from a mountain stream and no soap and somewhat refreshed, he'd found that the fire had died out beside it sat Wufei with his back to a rock and Sally leaned against him. Her head rested on his shoulder and his own rested on her head. His right arm casually around her waist as if comforting her while his right held a knife tightly for self defense. Duo quietly watched them a moment longer and then went to check on Heero.

Heero lay cocooned inside 2 sleeping bags as he'd been reluctant to go sleep until Duo fashioned the two spare sleeping bags into this formation which had more than enough room for the two to share it. Heero had lain the whole night in Duo's arms huddled up close to the braided boy seeking comfort it seemed. Duo had let him too. He felt his chest both constrict in sadness and anger at what made their Heero become so isolated that he couldn't even sleep without keeping Duo close and clinging to the long braid as if he feared that letting go would make the other disappear and warm at the thought that Heero trusted him enough to share a sleeping bag with him.

Duo knew that he wouldn't be able to get out of answering questions today though. He'd not been able to sleep all night. He'd napped and rested his eyes whenever he could the past few days and this night he'd not slept or napped. He'd just lain there listening to Sally and Wufei with his eyes closed to keep them from finding out he was awake.

A tug on his braid pulled him from his thoughts and found him face to face with Heero who had scooted over sleeping bag and all and was looking at him for guidance.

"Imma talk to em today. They're good people remember? I'm sure they'll help us if they know. If they won't though…well we'll worry about it then, but you're not going back." Duo said.

"Going back where Duo?" Wufei asked mentally growling when Duo very nearly jumped and reached for something in his boot at the same time. If Duo was this easily startled something wasn't right. Duo stopped himself though and helped Heero get out of the sleeping bags and put his coat and shoes back on. He then gave the boy another two nutri bars and turned to Wufei and Sally who stood behind them waiting.

"Fei? You're our friend right? Would you help us at any time? Would you be on our side no matter what? Regardless of what I'm about to say can you say now while you don't yet know that you wouldn't go against us or fight us?" Duo asked calmly looking at the two gauging their respective reaction. Wufei didn't even think on the questions one second.

"Of course. You two are my best friends. I would help you at any time and I'd be by your side any time and anywhere. You're not only friends, but also brothers and I would follow you to the deepest pits of hell and back and you know I will only fight you or go against you if I believe you're a danger to yourselves or world peace." he said resolutely.

"Sal?" Duo asked turning to her after nodding at Wufei.

"Do you even need to ask? The answer is the same as Wufei's." Sally said. She turned to her partner though when Wufei gasped suddenly. Duo's face paled considerably as Wufei spoke and she got a feeling he was right.

"You're…Heero's…" Wufei began then he went off in Chinese cursing and growling as he paced around the clearing and finally punched a sizable rock as he seethed with rage.

"That god damned bastard! He knew damnit! The Lady too! She knew damnit! She knew, but she couldn't refuse! Arday is behind this I'm sure!" Sally howled angrily.

Duo watched as the two reached the right conclusions. Then deciding Heero was most important went over to the other who still sat where Duo left him to eat while he talked with Wufei and Sally. Heero looked at him; eyes pleading for them to move on. Duo didn't say a word and helped Heero stand. He grabbed his backpack with the medical supplies and food and quietly ushered Heero to the stream to help him wash up a little. Wufei and Sally would have to decide for themselves what to do next, but they couldn't afford to stay put for too long.

Duo watched as Heero gently lowered his broken ankle into the cold water of the stream and almost sobbed at the relief this brought him. Satisfied that Heero was safe for a while here Duo scoured the area around Heero's position making sure to keep within sight of the boy. He found some berries that he knew were edible and put them in one of the containers he'd taken from the workshop and washed in the first stream they came across. They'd be good for Heero later. Finding evidence of small forest animals he set up a few traps hoping to capture something they could skin and roast.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Sally stared at the remnants of the fire they made last night. Wufei had calmed down after realizing that punching the rock resulted in it having a large spider web crack and his fist bleeding out. Sally had carefully cleaned it and wrapped it up after which they realized that Duo had managed to sneak Heero and their belongings and even the spare sleeping bags out of their little camp while they were coming to grips with the severity of their own situation as well as Heero's.

"Now what? We can't really join them without risking danger to ourselves, I'm not even going to attempt capturing them and going back empty handed poses the same risk as joining them…" Sally sighed.

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't as Maxwell would say…I do not know what to do, but I do know I'm not handing him back to that bastard…Heero won't survive returning to that place if his current situation says anything about that…" Wufei agreed glaring hard at the rock he'd previously punched as if it was the cause of his current problems.

"I think we have to decide first who's side we're on here.." Sally said having had more time to cool down than Wufei and having already gotten over her breakdown and started to ponder the matter while she treated Wufei's injury.

"Heero's." Wufei said resolutely. Sally smiled and nodded.

"Alright. So going back without him results in us being blamed for aiding him, going on and helping him makes us enemies of ESUN also and staying here is no option either nor do I want to. I think the Lady did realize Heero was the escaped convict, but ESUN has her hands tied on the matter. If she'd not sent us then the loyalty of Preventors toward protecting peace would have been taken in question." Sally said handing Wufei a nutri bar to eat while they considered their options.

"We have no choice really. We can't go back and Duo probably put quite some distance between us and them. We'll just take our time catching up so as not to make it look like we aided them…that way if we happen to wander into Quatre's territory on our search and find them…well there's nothing we can do there as it's not our jurisdiction." Wufei said with a dark smirk.

"You devious little shit…you already had this worked out didn't you?" Sally said punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Well I lost most of my anger after nearly breaking my hand on that rock. Let's get moving. They headed toward the south." Wufei said getting up after finishing his bar. Sally nodded and followed him as he led the way.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

When Duo came back to where Heero sat the other boy was huddled far away from the water staring at it suspiciously.

"Heero?" Duo asked worriedly.

"Big fish." Heero murmured as he allowed Duo to dry off his foot which was looking no better than his ankle.

Now that the swelling had gone down enough to expose the injury Duo could easily see it would need surgery to be fixed. He quickly pulled two rods he'd lifted from the prison shed from his bag and began splinting Heero's ankle to the best of his ability. He then carefully put the sock and shoe back on and walked to the water to fill his bottles. Not two seconds later Duo let out a shocked cry and scooted backward away from the water as a sizable catfish leapt out at him before falling back in the water.

"Big fish is right!" Duo said staring at the water. His mind immediately began rushing over what he knew of Russian wildlife and prayed they'd not meet any big predators. He didn't fancy bear wrestling regardless of what they'd gain from it.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	10. Break out 10

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 10,**

It was close to nightfall when Sally finally demanded they stop for the night. Wufei agreed. He was surprised at how far Duo had led Heero. The two men had on foot gotten quite a distance away from the camp of the previous night. Duo had left a trail for Wufei to follow though and it had led them alongside a stream until there was a bridge they could cross. From there it led them through a dense forest until the landscape became mountainous again and their path headed upward. They'd reached a spot from where they could see steam a short distance ahead of them and searched for signs that Duo had stopped here. They found none though, only the signs pointing out that Duo had kept moving and Wufei deduced that the two likely took a break on the other side of whatever caused steam there.

Sally and Wufei settled down for the evening with a warm fire for them and ate yet another nutri bar.

"When this mission is over I don't want to see another nutri bar ever again." Wufei grumbled.

"I thought I'd be done eating them after the war…we should tell Quatre to have his companies redesign these things so they actually taste like something other than saw dust…" Sally muttered glaring at the bars.

"No need. It's the first thing he planned on after the war. Right after the Kevlar weave. Trowa told me he was very happy with it. At any rate we should get some sleep if we want to catch up to those two tomorrow." Wufei said quietly. Sally nodded and settled down in her sleeping bag. Wufei always took watch first.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Duo stared at the path heading up and growled angrily.

"Fucking mountains…after this all I never want to see another mountain in my life…" he muttered shifting Heero's arm so the boy leaned on him more.

"Dun put weight on that ankle. Yer not up to that right now. Let me do the hard work kay?" he said. Heero simply leaned on him and waited for Duo to start walking so he could move. The two wobbled upward along the path that Duo hoped would lead them into Georgia by midday two days from now.

"Smoke…" Heero murmured quietly. Duo blinked and looked ahead.

"That ain't smoke…" Duo answered back hoisting Heero higher to make it easier for the other to wobble along without putting weight on his broken ankle. As the top of the path neared Duo and Heero both moved faster by a small margin and Once they got to the other side of their mountainous path where the road went down Duo let out a cheerful whoop and urged Heero to move faster as he spoke.

"That's steam! It's hot water!" Duo said a small part of him praying that this meant what he hoped it meant.

"Onsen…" Heero whispered staring at the naturally formed crater full of hot water that lay hidden to the left of the path which spiraled downward into more forest. It took a few moments for Duo to dig up the translation and he nodded.

"Yes, onsen a natural one." He looked behind them and grinned.

"So buddy want a hot bath?" he asked nodding to it. Heero looked at the water blankly a moment before turning to Duo with a pleading look. Duo smiled and helped Heero strip off his clothes and then set to work with plastic bags and rubber bands he'd collected from the shed to tie off the broken limbs and keep their bandages dry.

After Duo helped Heero settle down in the hot water he backtracked a bit recalling a plant Wufei had once told him could be used for making soap. He quickly found it and on his way back dug up the knowledge Wufei had shared on how to go about turning it into soap. Once he reached the hot spring he set to making soap as Heero watched him closely from his spot in the hot water. Duo then put the soap in a small container he carried in the bag and then stripped and joined Heero.

"Let's get you clean buddy." Duo said smiling as he showed the soap and carefully rubbed it on Heero's dirty arm. Heero quickly took to the idea and began with his good hand the process of lathering his body. Duo helped him with the parts he couldn't reach and even aided him in washing his hair using a spare container to rinse out the water when Heero shook his head to the question of dunking his head to rinse it. Duo after this let Heero enjoy himself in the hot spring and began to use the little soap he had left to wash his own hair. He smiled when he finished and fished around for the container he'd used to scoop water over Heero's head and heard movement just before water ran down his head.

Heero watched as Duo fished around for the container which due to the movement in the water only ended up further from Duo's grasp. He got up slowly and moved to grab it. He stared at the container and recalled what Duo had done. Slowly he mimicked Duo's action by scooping up water and letting it fall over Duo's head to rinse out the soap. He only had one hand to use though as the other was safely tied off with a bag and rubber band to keep the bandage around it from getting wet.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE OEOEOEO

_Onsen_ he murmured with a content sigh as his elder self smiled.

Hai. Feels good. the elder him said warmly.

_Odin took me to one once. He said I was a good kid._ he said smiling at the memory.

You are. the elder him said. He frowned as the elder him seemed to look sadder somehow as if the memory wasn't as happy to him.

_Ah! Retsu!_ he yelped. The elder him chuckled at this.

Yes it usually is outside the Onsen. It's only five degrees Celsius out after all. the elder him said. He pouted and stuck out his tongue at the other.

_How come you're not cold?_ he asked the older him.

Because I can't feel. Elder him whispered sadly. He quieted down after this. It confused him a lot. For the first time the elder him seemed almost upset.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	11. Break out 11

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 11,**

Wufei yawned and looked around as his sleep riddled mind tried to make heads or tails of things. Finally his brain seemed to have gotten a jump start and he recalled the mission and meeting with Duo and finding out about Heero. He yawned again and poked at the fire which was close to dying out. After tossing another log on the fire he glanced at where Sally had been sleeping and found an empty sleeping bag. The woman in question was sitting on a rock a short distance from their camp and was staring up at the stars.

Wufei got up and walked over to her side. She turned when he approached and he could see the worry on her face. He could also very faintly see she'd been crying earlier.

"What are we going to do? Preventors might not be much, but it's all I have. I can't really see myself doing much else…" Sally said quietly. Wufei sat down beside her and laid his arm around her waist in an attempt to comfort her some.

"You shouldn't worry about such things now. We already agreed we weren't going to turn them in. Even if we did that Arday guy will just say we knew where they were headed when no one else did or something equally ridiculous. We really don't have a choice; we'll continue to follow the trail in the morning and catch up with Duo and Heero. They'll need all the help they can get if they're to reach Quatre's land. After that we will see. I'm certain that if needed Quatre will gladly see to it that you're given a nice job doing something you love doing. Besides I've no better credentials than you do; if anything I'm the one who should complain. My job experience exists of war veteran and scholar. I'd be lucky if they got me a job as librarian…come now. Let's return to the fire where it's warm." Wufei said quietly. Sally chuckled softly despite her worry.

"How come you hate cold anyway Wufei?" she asked as they walked over to the fire.

"It's not that I hate it; I'm just not equipped for it. My colony was all about efficiency. In the winter nothing grows so they decided to skip that season all together. I didn't see snow until I first came to earth. I just stood there in a snow covered field. It was at least 10 degrees below freezing point and I had on what I met you in. I stood there exactly 5 seconds and then hopped back into Nataku where it was warm." Wufei said smiling at the memory.

"I keep forgetting that some colonies didn't have a winter…" Sally said smiling at him.

For a long time the two sat silently by the fire. Sally stared at the flames until she felt she was running circles in her mind from all the thinking she'd been doing. She sighed and stared down the path at the clouds of steam billowing up. Slowly a grin spread on her face.

"Hey Wufei?" she asked quietly. Wufei grunted a soft response apparently in deep thought himself.

"Remember that steam down the path?" Sally asked nudging him a little. Wufei nodded to this and blinked several times waiting for her to continue.

"I checked it out while you were sleeping, there's a natural hot spring." She said chuckling softly as she watched the emotions flicker over his face as he processed this information.

"Well, we can't really find them if we can't see where we're going in the forest below…and I did pull a muscle in my back the other day. A hot spring bath would be beneficial to its recovery." Wufei mused very much tempted by the idea of a steaming hot spring just a few steps from their current location.

"As a doctor I have to say it's ill advised to work when one's body is isn't in good condition and hot springs are known for their therapeutic effects." Sally said smiling. Wufei smiled back lazily.

"Well if the doctor says so then we must take this opportunity to revitalize our body ne?" Wufei said finally as he pulled Sally onto her feet with him.

"We'd best." Sally agreed laughingly.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOE O

Duo yawned tiredly. After twenty hours of on and off walking he still only managed to get Heero to just half way down the mountain. He wished Heero still had his laptop with him so he could ask the other to check just where the hell in this mountain filled hole they were. As it was though he could only guess how close they were to the border of former Georgia. He'd not counted on Heero's broken ankle slowing them down or Wufei and Sally showing up.

After a long soak in the natural hot spring though he was feeling somewhat human again and the very treat of being allowed to enjoy the hot spring had done wonders for Heero. Not only was he finally cleaned of the thick layer of dirt that had gathered on them over the week and in Heero's case from however long ago it was he last saw a bath, but he was also much more relaxed now. With the prison now almost two and a half week behind them Duo could see that every day that they managed to stay ahead of the local law enforcers Heero was slowly relaxing just a little and the small spark of hope in his eyes grew.

Duo froze as he sensed more than heard Sally and Wufei come up behind them. Heero tensed and let out a frightened whimper. Duo quickly set him down and covered him a knife ready in his hand.

"Whoa whoa truce! We're the good guys kid!" Sally said raising her hands and smiling.

"It's alright Duo, we're helping you. We did not expect Yuy to be our perp. However this did make several things click into place though. Whichever way we go about it we'll be blamed if you manage to escape into Quatre's country; might as well join you now and save us the hassle. I believe Winner counted on that to begin with." Wufei said stepping up beside Sally and placing his hand against the knife. A war time gesture Wufei had used before to signal his cooperation. Duo could easily stab him in the hand and continue to do worse; Wufei placing his hand against the knife was a sign of trust toward Duo. Duo relaxed and put the knife away. He then turned to Heero and helped him over to the area he'd previously picked out for their next rest stop.

"Wufei and Sally are joining us. They're good people. They're gonna help us get to Quatre and safety. You c'n trust em." Duo said smiling at Heero.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Heero nodded after looking at the two a moment. His eyes widened though as Duo suddenly slumped. He umphed as Duo's weight came to rest on his chest and lap. Sally and Wufei were by his side instantly and pulling the braided boy off him, but Heero held tight.

"No." he grunted. His voice was raw and his eyes took on a clearer more determined look. Whatever had caused Duo to pass out like that it was their fault.

"Heero, Duo hasn't slept in days. He needs his rest, but if he sleeps like this he'll get sick. We need to get him in a sleeping bag." Sally said quietly.

"No." Heero said again.

"Sally go prepare the sleeping bags in Duo's bag." Wufei said having deftly removed the backpack without removing Duo from Heero's lap just yet.

Sally nodded and under Heero's watchful gaze pulled the two sleeping bags from Duo's backpack that she accepted from Wufei and fashioned them together much like Duo had when the four of them had first spent the night at one camp almost a week ago. Once finished she turned to Wufei and raised an eyebrow. Wufei simply nodded his thanks and turned to Heero.

"Come you can't put Duo in the sleeping bag with just your one hand. I'll help you." he said putting one of Duo's arms around his neck and waiting for Heero to work the other around his neck without using the still bandaged wrist. Wufei then slowly got up and pulled most of Duo's dead weight with him as Heero got up unsteadily on his broken ankle. The two walked Duo's sleeping body over to the sleeping bags where Wufei had Heero sit down in the sleeping bag before shifting Duo in with him and stepping back so that Heero could get himself and Duo situated comfortably.

"You should rest now. I'll keep watch and in the morning Sally will take a look at your injuries and treat them as best we can." Wufei said smiling at his friend.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

"I'm going to kill that bastard warden." Sally muttered as she kept Wufei company on his watch.

"You won't. Maxwell won't leave enough of him for that." Wufei said shaking his head.

"He doesn't even trust me anymore." Sally said annoyed with their situation in general and a bit upset by the fact that Heero hadn't wanted to trust her.

"Yuy was raised to be a tool of war. He was conditioned to fight for peace, but no one ever bothered to think about after the war. They assumed he'd die before it ended. They assumed we all would live just long enough to turn the tides and then die amidst the violence. I don't believe Master O and the other gundam engineers expected even themselves to survive. Right now though his mind has regressed back to the days of his conditioning. He's isolated himself as a means of self-defence. His body has been acting purely on instinct. Earlier though had been the first I've seen of the real Heero. It came out when you tried to move Duo. In this state of mind that he is now in he clings to Duo as if he's his life support. When Duo's lack of sleep caught up to him and he passed out Heero was lost. I merely deduced based on his reaction to you that in order to help Duo I had to show Heero that we aren't here to take Duo away from him. In order to do that I chose to make Heero aware of his limitations and the need to accept my help." Wufei said calmly.

"What will you tell Heero tomorrow though when Duo doesn't wake up? He's likely not slept since starting this mission almost three weeks ago. I doubt he'll wake up within the next two to three days." Sally said quietly.

"I will tell him the truth; that Duo needs his rest and all we can do is wait." Wufei said simply.

"Wufei? Why don't you get some rest too for once and let me take watch? Heero will need you until Duo wakes up." Sally said. Wufei nodded to this and grabbed his sleeping bag.

"Wake me for second shift." he said before laying down to sleep.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


	12. Break out 12

**Break out**

**Author notes: I got this idea out of nowhere and I'm going with it to see where it leads me.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.**

**Chapter 12,**

He watched as the Chinese youth glared at the slightly taller woman. He'd been surly all morning about something.

_Is he mad at me? Did I do bad? Why's Duo not moving? When'll he open his eyes?_ he asked staring at the elder him who was still watching things in the nothing.

Sally didn't wake Wufei for guard duty. Wufei is mad about that. He's not mad at us. Duo is sleeping, he was very tired. He'll wake up soon. elder him said calmly.

_When you going to tell me what this it is that I'm spose to find? _he asked the elder him.

You'll know when you find it. the other said calmly. He pouted at this.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

"Heero? Will you help me a moment? I'm going to try and catch some fish in the river I saw earlier today. I need you to make sure the fire doesn't go out. Duo will get cold if it goes out." Wufei said. Heero nodded and settled down next to Duo's sleeping form with the stick Wufei used to poke the fire with and keep it going. Wufei put some fire wood near Heero to throw into the fire from time to time.

With Heero busy and Duo sleeping soundly still Wufei walked off to the river wondering where Sally had wandered off to since she wasn't at the campsite. He found his answer when he reached the river and caught an eyeful of her washing her hair in the river. She'd taken off her jacket sweater and bra so as not to get them wet and was carefully washing her hair in the cold water.

Sally chuckled when she saw Wufei turn quickly in the corner of her eyes.

"Come now. You saw a lot more than this in the hot spring. You have no right to act prudish now." she said teasingly.

"Just hurry up already woman. I'd like for us to eat something other than saw dust flavored food replacements." Wufei muttered trying to hide the blush. He knew full well he'd seen a lot more than just her bare back and chest in the natural hot spring a few days ago, however his father had raised him to be a proper young man and proper men didn't gawk at women's naked flesh. Then again proper men also didn't do what they did at the hot spring either.

Sally laughed as Wufei turned quite a lovely shade of red and told her to hurry. She did so, but kept watching him from the corner of her eye chuckling more when he turned even redder. She knew mentioning the natural hot spring up in the mountains had made him remember.

"Okay you can look now, I'm decent again. Be careful not to get jumped by giant cat fish or bears." Sally said chuckling. A scream followed by what sounded like a growling bear though stopped whatever retort Wufei might have had and had the two preventor agents racing for their camp.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Heero stared with wide eyes at the bear as it approached them and reared on its hind legs. The thing was big and hairy and smelled bad and it's claws looked very sharp. It'd come out of the forest and took offense to their presence apparently.

Heero looked at Duo who lay beside him and then at the bear who's big claw was real close suddenly. He had no time to react as the huge paw connected with his chest and he was flung aside. He grunted softly as his back connected with a tree before he plummeted to the ground and sat up quickly. He felt his blood run cold as the huge violent beast towered over Duo.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Duo fought to regain consciousness. His body was so tired though, but he knew he had to wake up. Something was wrong. There was weight on his chest and something wet and hot at his neck. Blearily he managed to open an eye to thick brown fur. That woke him up alright and next he knew the weight left his chest and he heard the raw almost animal like cry erupting from Heero's mouth as the other had thrown himself at the bear and forced the animal off Duo.

Duo stared and cursing loudly scrambled to his feat. As the bear shook wildly to get Heero off him Duo quickly pulled a sizable dagger from inside his clothes and ran toward the bear that had managed to shake Heero off. The already injured boy slammed into a tree for a second time that day and slumped onto the ground.

The bear reared up to attack Duo, but stood no chance as the very angry self-proclaimed Shinigami had already closed the distance between himself and the dangerous creature. With a wild outcry of anger he rammed the dagger into the animal; pulling it out and stabbing again. The bear let out a pained cry and after the third stab, just as Wufei and Sally arrived it fell to the ground with a loud enough thud that it shook the very ground they stood on. Duo stared at it breathing raggedly.

Sally ran to Heero to make sure he was alright as Wufei rushed to Duo's side. Duo cursed vehemently and shoved a worried Wufei off him. He walked over to the bear and inspected it to be assured it was dead.

"Duo, it's dead." Wufei said placing his hand over Duo's trembling one.

"I know. I killed it. I had to. How long were we at this location while I slept? Do you think we have time to make prep this beast? We could sure use the meat and-" Duo said still breathing raggedly. Wufei pried the knife from his white fist and put it in the sand beside the bear. He pulled Duo over to Heero and pushed him on the ground beside the other boy.

"Rest up. Let Sally and I worry about the bear's body. You only got half a day's sleep. You need more and so does Heero. Trust Sally and I. Sleep." Wufei said as he gave them his and Sally's sleeping bags as the spare ones were covered in blood.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

Heero watched quietly as Duo and Wufei spoke about doing something with the bear's carcass. Meat, right they needed that to survive. Duo had run out of nutri bars about two days ago and whatever small critters and fish they'd caught had only served to numb his hunger for an hour or so. He'd not seen Duo eat much, but Duo claimed he'd survived on less for longer before and he'd eat when they were in Quatre's country.

Heero looked at Wufei when he pushed Duo into his arms and wrapped the sleeping bags around the two of them.

"Sleep." Heero shook his head. He wasn't tired at all.

"Heero…alright, but keep an eye on Duo for me. He had a bad scare from that bear and I won't be able to focus on removing the bear's body if Duo is up and about when he should be sleeping or at least resting." Wufei said quietly. Heero nodded slowly as he felt Duo's body trembling against him. He frowned at this though.

"Duo…" he whispered quietly. Duo didn't respond it seemed, but his body seemed to tremble even more.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

After Duo finally fell asleep again Heero watched as Wufei and Sally worked in tandem like a well oiled machine on the dead bear. It took them only roughly three hours to turn the carcass into nothing but bones and a sleeping bag full of innards which Wufei had sally toss into the river along with the other soiled sleeping bag. Wufei had then spent the remaining two hours of light cleaning the bear fur in the river before hanging it to dry downwind while Sally turned up all kinds of handy dandy sealable containers from her bag; some foldable when not in use others stackable within the other to fit up to 8 containers in one. She set them out around her and Heero noticed that Sally also brought out some bags of white stuff. Salt he realized when his mind translated the words. He took inordinately much joy in discovering he hadn't forgotten how to read even after not seeing anything with words on them for years. Sally quickly began to put the bear meat into containers and adding the salt. She then took what couldn't be cured and divided it over the containers before setting aside a large portion for later.

Wufei returned later with a happy smile on his face and laid out the fruits, nuts and assorted greeneries he swore were edible as well as several fish. Sally took the nuts and herbs and put them in a container also. She then set to work on fixing Duo's now clean makeshift pack and turning Heero's coat into a small backpack also.

Duo had fallen back asleep just before Wufei left to go gather food and Heero had fallen asleep as soon as Wufei had returned with the food he'd managed to gather. After the two had gone to sleep Wufei checked on the bearskin and once he was certain it wasn't yet as dry as he wanted it he pulled out a small square box like radio of the old fashion battery power kind that required tuning by turning the tuning wheel on the side of the radio. Sally smiled and joined him by the fire as night had set in and the two used the radio to listen in on the police reports and any other news that might be useful.

Once during the war Wufei had acquired the little unit from Duo who'd found them on a junkyard and tinkered on them until he was able to make them tune into the frequencies used by the local law enforcers and most OZ facilities. Duo had given Heero one and Quatre two. Quatre had given his second one to Trowa and later on Duo had passed Wufei one during their stay in the OZ Lunar prison. At one time Wufei would've thought of such methods as dishonest, but by the time he got the radio from Duo he'd already realized that there was no honor in OZ.

OEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEOEO

He stared ahead quietly.

_Bear…_ he murmured. His elder self held him still and nodded.

It's dead. Duo killed it. the elder him said. He nodded.

_I helped…right?_ he asked looking at the elder him for affirmation. The other nodded.

Yeah, you did good today. the elder him said smiling. He smiled back a little. He blinked though when he looked around the nothing seemed bigger somehow. He still couldn't see a think in this nothing though.

**Hope you enjoyed it!**


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